After 20 years in Washington, D.C., the 6th District congresswoman is retiring and returning home for good at the end of the year. Reflecting on her career last week in an interview with the Marin Independent Journal, Woolsey said she has no regrets about leaving Washington or her accomplishments in office.

"I wouldn't have retired if I was going to miss it," Woolsey said. And, she added, "I'm not disappointed. I'm not walking out of here saying, 'Oh, I wish I'd done more.' I couldn't have done more."

Brian Sobel, a Petaluma-based political analyst who served with Woosley on the Petaluma City Council before she went to Congress, said, "She could not have done more without compromising her principles and moving politically into areas that she philosophically didn't feel comfortable supporting. She could compromise on issues but she was uncompromising on her principles."

David McCuan, a Sonoma State University associate professor of political science, said, "There might be some who would quibble with her legislative accomplishments or say that she could have done more. I think that is an unfair assessment of her role. Her role was as a person of conscience in the Congress. She fit that district to a tee."

Woolsey, who served six years as leader of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, has been a congresswoman for two decades; but for all but six of those years, her party has been in the minority. She was elected in 1992, dubbed the "Year of the Women" by headline writers after Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein and two other female candidates were elected to the U.S. Senate.

Woolsey, who took the seat in Congress vacated by Boxer, was elected on her 55th birthday. She thought then that she would retire at 65.

"But 65 came, and it never entered my mind," Woolsey said. "It takes 10 years for you to stop being a teen-ager and become a full adult in the Congress."

The next 10 years melted away even faster. Last month, Woolsey celebrated her 75th birthday.

"Blink and it was over," she said.

During her first two years, Woolsey dined every Thursday night with 16 other Democratic House members, many of whom were either House freshmen or female.

"After the 1994 election, there were only four of us left," Woolsey said.

In the 1994 mid-term election, Newt Gingrich used his Contract with America to engineer a 54-seat swing in House membership from Democrats to Republicans. Suddenly, the Democrats were the minority party in the House for the first time since 1954.

"It was shocking," Woolsey said. "Democrats had been in charge for so long, they weren't doing a lot of polling. It was a surprise all the way up to the White House."

But it was hardly the most shocking moment of Woolsey's career.

"I was driving up Independence Avenue listening to NPR when they announced it," Woolsey said, recalling 9/11. "I got into my office just as the second building got hit. I was standing at my desk when I could hear the Pentagon getting hit."

She remembers giving rides to people who were stranded as she drove back to her apartment in her Ford Explorer.

These two landmark events, the "Republican Revolution" in Congress and 9/11, cast a shadow over Woolsey's two decades in Congress that is yet to lift. For example, Woolsey said when she arrived in Washington, she was surprised by how respectful members were of each other.

"You could disagree without disliking somebody," she said. "There was listening. There was negotiating. Members made an attempt to get together and make it work."

Woolsey said, since then, particularly since the rise of the Tea Party in 2010, any pretense of collegiality has vanished.

"There is no collaboration, none," she said.

Nevertheless, Woolsey said she remains on good terms with a number of Republican members of Congress, including: Walter Jones, North Carolina; Donald Young, Alaska; Tom Cole, Oklahoma; and Ted Poe and Ron Paul, both of whom represent Texas.

"I actually like Ron Paul," Woolsey said, "half of his politics are just like mine, half of his politics are just the opposite."

But then Woolsey said she considers Bill Clinton to be one of the best presidents the country has ever had despite the fact that she disagreed with him on welfare cuts, the North American Free Trade Agreement and banking deregulation.

"I don't expect a president to do everything I want. I expect a president to lead," Woolsey said. "Clinton is a moderate; so is Barack Obama. There won't be another progressive president in our lifetime. The country is moving to the middle."

Woolsey gives Clinton the edge over Obama because "he knows how to translate what he knows to regular people. Clinton is a people artist."

She said the most thrilling moment of her career was when Clinton singled her out during his second State of Union of address in 1996.

In this speech, in which he proposed ending "welfare as we know it," Clinton praised Woolsey for working her way off welfare to become a Congresswoman. Woolsey was a single mother of three children when she was forced to rely on welfare for three years in the 1960s.

"It was a surprise," Woolsey said. "I don't think I'll ever in my life have another honor like that."

And what does Woolsey have to say about the one Republican president she served under, George W. Bush?

"Poor George," she said. "He shouldn't have been president. I think it took him seven years to realize his vice president was running him, and then he stood up and did some things on his own that weren't quite so horrendous."

Woolsey attributes one of the two votes she regrets having cast during her congressional career to misplaced trust in Bush.

"I should never have voted for No Child Left Behind," Woolsey said. "It was so early in Bush's career I didn't know he'd push something that he would refuse to fund. It just turned out to be so punitive."

Woolsey also regrets having not joined with Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Berkeley, in 2001 to oppose a joint resolution of Congress that gave Bush the power to use the United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the September 11th attacks. Woolsey said the resolution made it possible for Bush to launch his invasion of Iraq.

"That was the last time that I did anything that foolish because nobody is more against war than I am," she said. On Wednesday, Woolsey delivered her 444th, and final, anti-war speech on the House floor.

She concluded her speech by saying, "Sometimes I've been accused of wanting a perfect world. But I consider that a compliment. Our founders strove for a more perfect union; why shouldn't we aim for a perfect world?"

Woolsey said she won't miss flying back and forth from Washington D.C. every week, the endless fund-raising, or the daily stress. She underwent two major back surgeries while in office.

"What I want is not to have that 24 hours a day, seven days a week angst. Your stomach never stops. Your head never stops," she said.

At the moment, Woolsey isn't sure if she will be home for Christmas or if she'll be required to remain in Washington D.C. to vote on a resolution to the so-called "fiscal cliff" dilemma. If the final deal calls for cuts in Medicare or Medicaid or fails to include higher taxes for the wealthy, Woolsey said, "Then I won't vote for it."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio: "She has been one of the stalwarts for Democrats in Congress on peace, education, and helping women who are trying to support their families. Her leaving Congress is a loss to the Congress because of the power of her voice, because of her integrity, because of her willingness to take a stand. Her power comes from the ethical power of her voice. America took a turn in the wrong direction after 9/11. We became a more militarist country. Lynn Woolsey was one of the few individuals who warned America about the direction it was going.

Rep. Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma: "Lynn Woolsey has been an effective and respected advocate for the progressive agenda. As a conservative, I've often disagreed with Lynn; however, she has always been fair, forthright and eager to work across partisan and ideological lines whenever there is a chance to reach agreement. I've had the opportunity to travel abroad with Lynn, and I've often reflected on what a wonderful impression she made about America and Americans to people in other lands. I'll miss her as a friend and colleague, and I have no doubt she'll find other ways to serve the community she loves and has so well represented."

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Berkeley: "Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey has been a stalwart advocate for progressive issues during her tenure in Congress and throughout her career. I have had the pleasure and honor to work closely with Congresswoman Woolsey on many issues including ending the wars in the middle east and on issues impacting the poor and disenfranchised. Her passion, resolve and purpose of mission will be missed in Congress."